Greater New Orleans

New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Rob Ryan slams his headset to the turf after the winning touchdown by the New England Patriots with five seconds left.
(Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

Foxborough, Mass. -- The New England Patriots came into Sunday afternoon's game needing something to neutralize the New Orleans Saints' ever-changing defense.

With a revolving door of players around quarterback Tom Brady, personnel alone wasn't enough stymie a defensive attack that is as situational as it is multiple under first-year defensive coordinator Rob Ryan.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick adjusted the tempo. He turned to a no huddle, fast-paced offensive approach that got his sagging offense going and kept the Saints' defense off balanced at the most critical times during their 30-27 loss at Gillette Stadium.

The no huddle limited Ryan's ability to sub in players and adjust packages to the Patriots' personnel.

"We knew that was something that we had to do coming in, that was the game plan coming in," said Patriots running back and former LSU standout Stevan Ridley, who bounced back from a knee injury to run for 96 yards and two touchdowns against the Saints. "We wanted to run that up-tempo. That's something our coaches saw and that's why I say I am so thankful to be here because they do switch it up every week and try to find a way to put opposing teams' defenses on their heels.

"That was something that benefitted us and we just had to go out there execute. "

The fast-paced approach worked well in the first half for Brady and the relatively new of players around him as they jumped out to a 17-7 halftime lead. The pace again served them well during the final drive when Brady went no huddle on all seven plays from scrimmage, including the winning 17-yard touchdown pass to rookie receiver Kenbrell Thompkins over cornerback Jabari Greer.

There were times throughout the game when Ryan would have liked to shifted to his base defense instead of sitting in nickel. In some of those instances Ridley came up with some of his biggest runs.

And there were others where they stuck in the 3-4 base against the Patriots' multiple receiver sets and got burned for big passing plays.

As a result, the Saints' defense gave up a season-high 30 points and allowed New England 376 yards of offense and 4.5 yards per play. The Patriots also won the time of possession battle against the NFL-leading Saints, 31:51 to 28:09

"I think sometimes it helped us a little bit because we were playing fast and we could be aggressive and then sometimes we didn't execute well and it didn't go very well," said Brady, who completed 25 of 43 passes for 269 yards for a touchdown and an interception while being sacked five times. "It's only as good as the execution regardless of the tempo. Certainly late in the game we were going fast, but we have to make the plays when they are there whether we are going fast or going slow."

The game plan seemed smart against a defense that is predicated on a lot of substitutions, but it also gave a lift to an offense that right now lacks an identity.

The Patriots are missing star tight end Rob Gronkowski, who continues to sit out due to injury, and they have lost most of their playmaking receivers such as Wes Welker and Brandon Lloyd from last season. As a result, the offense has struggled.

A week ago against the Cincinnati Bengals, Brady failed to throw a touchdown pass for the first time in 52 games and the offense didn't score a touchdown in a 13-6 loss.

But the up-tempo approach definitely helped them move the football much better Sunday. They scored three touchdowns on drives of 80, 66 and 60 yards.

Along the way Brady was able to take advantage of the sometimes favorable matchups, spreading the ball around to eight receivers.

Rookie Aaron Dobson had six catches for 60 yards, veteran Austin Collie, acquired this week, caught two passes late in the fourth quarter, tight end Michael Hoomanawanui got more involved in the passing game with four catches for a career-high 57 yards.

"We just felt like it would give us tempo we were looking for," said Belichick, whose team improved to 5-1. "We felt it wasn't as much about them as it was about us. Playing fast, getting to the line, being confident in what we were doing and getting into the up tempo. We wanted to go out there and try to be more aggressive."

That the Patriots certainly were, especially at the end when they got possession of the ball three times in the final 3:29.

Brady, who engineered his 38th career winning or tying fourth-quarter drive, hit Julian Edelman for a 23-yard reception, Collie for a 15-yarder, Dobson on a 6-yard reception and then Collie another 9-yard reception to set up the winning touchdown pass to Thompkins.

"I have confidence in those guys," Brady said. "We're just working hard every day to get better. We're certainly not there yet. We're definitely just grinding."